Fortress Exploring Sale of Florida East Coast Railway

FOrtress Investment Group is exploring a sale of Florida East Coast Railway Corp., the coastal freight operator it took private in 2007.

Asset manager Fortress is working with Barclays and Morgan Stanley to weigh options for Jacksonville-based Florida East Coast Railway. The company is likely to attract interest from other private equity firms, infrastructure firms and railway operators.

The holding company of Florida East Coast Railway — Florida East Coast Industries Inc. — was taken private in 2007 by funds managed by Fortress in a transaction valued at about $3.5 billion. The fund later spun off the railway operations into a separate company, leaving real estate, logistics and telecommunications assets under the FECI umbrella.

Fortress, based in New York, had about $70.2 billion in assets under management as of June 30, according to its website. Florida East Coast Railway can trace its roots back to 1895, when industrialist Henry M. Flagler bought the Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Halifax, and Indian River railroads to create a transportation route along the state’s coastline.

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